The discourse surrounding Borderlands 4 has not been exactly easy in the past few weeks. The game has gone through a bit of a rollercoaster since it was revealed, with a first look at Borderlands 4's Vault Hunters leading to disappointment, which was made up for in a full-fledged gameplay trailer showing the characters more in depth as well as the setting and looting-shooting loop. Then, on the high of the positive reaction from all the trailers and developer interviews, Gearbox's own Randy Pitchford took to social media to discuss Borderlands 4's price, and the fact that it could cost $80 didn't sit well with fans. This bullet has been dodged, with the base game costing $70, but Gearbox finds itself in another controversy.
Borderlands 4 is coming out sooner than expected, which also contributed to fans' hype, and it's now slated for release on September 12 as opposed to September 23. With the game less than three months away, it was time for Gearbox to announce the price of Borderlands 4, and the sentiment was more on the negative side overall due to the new trend in the industry making games cost upward of $70, now between $80 and $90 for some titles. The base game is set to have an MSRP of $69.99, but the issue comes from the Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions.
Borderlands 4’s DLC Vault Hunters Should Be Cut from Existing Cloth
Borderlands 4's post-launch roadmap has just been confirmed, and there's a case to be made for its DLC Vault Hunters to come from familiar territory.
Borderlands 4's Price is No Longer Controversial, But Its Biggest Edition Is
Borderlands 4's Standard, Deluxe, and Super Deluxe editions all come with different perks, as one might expect. The current slate is:
- Pre-Order Bonus (free regardless of edition) - 1 Vault Hunter skin, 1 weapon skin, 1 ECHO-4 drone skin
- Standard Edition ($69.99) - No extra
- Deluxe Edition ($99.99) - 4 unique areas, missions, and bosses, 4 Vault Cards with their own challenges and rewards, new loot, new Vault Hunter cosmetics, 4 new vehicles and their respective cosmetics, 1 weapon skin
- Super Deluxe Edition ($129.99) - 2 additional playable Vault Hunters, 2 new map regions, additional story missions and side missions, new loot, new Vault Hunter cosmetics, new ECHO skin, 4 Vault Hunter skins, 4 Vault Hunter heads, 4 Vault Hunter bodies, and all the content from the Deluxe Edition
The problem is that the Super Deluxe Edition offers the complete package for the game, including post-launch content (though it remains to be seen if this includes all content Gearbox plans on releasing), but it costs a whopping $130. Compared to the base game, this is an extra $60, which is essentially the price of another AAA game, just for some extra content that may not even be everything there is going to be.
How Borderlands 4's Super Deluxe Edition Compares to Borderlands 3's Ultimate Edition
This can be even more jarring when compared to past releases. For example, Borderlands 3 has three editions - the Standard Edition for $60, the Super Deluxe Edition for $80 (including cosmetic packs and the Season Pass 1 for an extra four story campaigns with new loot and stories), and the Ultimate Edition for $100 (including more cosmetic packs and the Season Pass 2 for two more DLC in the form of Borderlands 3's Designer's Cut and Director's Cut, as well as the Super Deluxe Edition).
This translates into a $30 price increase for Borderlands 4's Super Deluxe Edition when compared to Borderlands 3's Ultimate Edition, but the content may not be truly comparable in terms of quantity. There have been several negative reactions to the price of BL4's Super Deluxe Edition among the community, as it has less DLC than Borderlands 3, with the addition of two playable characters, but with a steep increase in its cost.
Why Borderlands 4 Needs to Deliver By Any Means Necessary
More importantly, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands disappointed with its DLC, as Gearbox did deliver on the promise of quantity, but the quality was overall perceived as bad or not worth the cost, at the very least. As such, there is a bad precedent for DLC as the most recent example, and with one of the highest costs in the industry for a deluxe edition, Borderlands 4 may be biting off more than it can chew in terms of fans' trust and goodwill. It remains to be seen what the final reception is, but $130 may be a tad too much for what Gearbox is offering.
Borderlands 4
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 88%
- Released
- September 12, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Gearbox Software
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
